Man caught with huge machete in Castle Park ‘found blade in playground’

A Bristol man who was found ‘just chilling’ with a machete down his trousers in Castle Park told police he had found the weapon in a playground in Brislington, a court heard.

Esmael Mohammed was sitting on a wall in the city centre park in April when he was approached and later searched by police who discovered the 34 inch blade in the waistband of his sweatpants.

The 21-year-old also had a Stanley knife on him, although he told officers he needed it for his job in construction.

He was jailed at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (June 15) after pleading guilty to possessing a blade in a public place.

The court heard that police had approached Mohammed after CCTV picked up ‘something untoward’ happening in Castle Park. Mohammed initially attemped to run away but was grabbed by an officer and searched.

When they asked Mohammed what he was doing sitting in the park with a weapon, he said he was ‘just chilling’ and that he had found the blade in a playground in Brislington before hiding it in his parent’s garden.

He also told them that he had been robbed several times and ‘threatened’ in Castle Park in the past, and was planning on ‘showing’ the machete if this happened again.

Mohammed told the court that he had younger siblings who played in the playground and that he wouldn’t want the machete lying around for them or other children to find.

When District Judge Lynn Matthews asked why he didn’t tell police that he had the machete straight away, he replied: “Because I didn’t know what was going to happen to me.”

“Why did you put it in your waistband?” asked Judge Matthews. “It would have fit in a Tesco carrier bag, wouldn’t it? Was it because you wanted easy access to it?”

“No,” replied Mohammed. He went on: “Obviously, I regret what I’ve done.

“I’m not that kind of person and it won’t happen again.”

The court heard that Mohammed, of Hungerford Crescent in Brislington, was of ‘good character’ and had no previous convictions.

But Judge Matthews said the law stated that cases of this nature should be dealt with ‘very robustly’.

She jailed Mohammed for 18 weeks and a deprivation order was made for the Stanley knife.

He was also ordered to pay a £129 statutory surcharge.